Beneath a Moonless Sky
by fighting-john-watsons-war
Summary: They looked up at the stars, hands entwined in the space between them - a space that seemed so much farther than it really was, and yet, the space that really ought to have been so much farther.


"My Adonis?" A soft, timid voice questioned from underneath the expanse of stars.

The man next to her turned his head from the sky to look at her - or, rather, where she would be, as it was too dark to see much more than shapes and figures.

"Yes, love?" His voice was curious, intrigued.

"What do you think will happen once - "

"Once your brother and his wife find out that we are - _us_?"

"Yes."

_Once there was a night beneath a moonless sky_

_Too dark to see a thing, too dark to even try_

_I strode to your side to tell you I must go_

_I couldn't see your face but sensed you even so_

"Well, I suppose your brother will attack me as best he knows how, rashly and with abandon, for daring to corrupt his innocent and much beloved sister before his wife would step in front of the blade to stop him and make him see sense."

The way he said that so matter-of-factly sent shivers down her spine. Was he joking? Probably, but this was his own _death_ he was speaking of here so freely -

"Don't talk like that."

"Just a jest, my love. Surely there is nothing to be feared! I am his best friend, his brother in arms. If for no other reason that he cannot afford to kill me and lose my skill, he will not dare to attack me." Here a hint of humour entered his voice. "If for no other reason that_ you_ would most certainly impale him on his own sword later, he will not dare, either."

She giggled. "This is true, of course. He has faced me a _few_ too many times for comfort. But let's pretend."

"Let's pretend that I will die tomorrow and no other thing is a guarantee but this? The things I_ do_ for you, woman!"

He paused, weighing each word as it fell from his tongue. "I suppose that - knowing I was going to die - that I would have no other chance to say it, I would grab your hand, like so - " he reached for her hand and she willingly gave it to him; he brushed it against his lips for a fleeting instant before settling it gently on the grass between them and hesitated, "And tell you how much I love you."

Her breath caught. He had never said anything of the sort before, always the stoic warrior and never the gentle man she saw in this moment. "And just how much would that be, good knight?" she laughed huskily, dazzled by the implication he was making, the promise of forever.

Silence. "Very much."

_And blind in the dark, as soul gazed into soul_

_I looked into your heart and saw you pure and whole_

_Cloaked under the night with nothing to suppress_

_A woman and a man, no more and yet no less_

They looked up at the stars, hands entwined in the space between them - a space that seemed so much farther than it really was, and yet, the space that really ought to have been so much farther. They could not be together, not in this time where_ he_ was adamant no Muggleborn should cross the threshold of the Great Hall, in case other, narrow-minded Muggles follow and burn it to the ground - even Godric saw the sense in that plan, but he was always for a bit of risk - and _she_ was the sister of the most respected Muggleborn advocate this century.

And yet...

"Of course, that would only be in a case where dying tomorrow is a guarantee?" she stated. She remembered all too well his fondness for mind games (which, naturally, being a master of trickery and clever words, he was very skilled at).

Salazar smiled, a real smile, not the smirk he adopted for the purposes of teaching and intimidation. "Let's assume for the time being that my death is not a guarantee, but _is_ a definite possibility - "

"Well, it is a definite possibility every _day_, is it not?" She knows that he loves her, regardless of his indirect, hypothetical way of stating it. She will not force him into revealing everything in one night.

Not even a night as beautiful as this one, where the lanterns from Hogwarts bobbed and danced in the distance, where the glow of the stars created an ethereal silver mist to descend on the lake, where fireflies and the smoky Patroni that guarded the school ran rampant. The tentacle of Godric's baby squid splashed silently in the water just a few meters away. She was sure the centaurs were gazing at the planets, the merpeople were celebrating Samhain night in an otherworldly dance beneath the glassy surface of the Black Lake.

There was no moon tonight, and he loved her. There had been no moon each night they had snuck out of the castle, and she loved him.

_And I kissed you_

_And caressed you_

_And the world around just fell away_

_We said things in the dark_

_We never dared to say_

Come what may for them in the next morning, when Godric and Rowena would discover this best-kept secret, Salazar Slytherin loved Helga Hufflepuff desperately..._nearly_ as much as she loved him.

_Beneath a moonless sky._

* * *

_Lyrics (italicized) courtesy of Andrew Lloyd Webber, Love Never Dies. _

A/N: This is one of my new favorites. I love it.

Oh, by the way. I do have a figment account, and this was originally published there. So I didn't steal this from anyone but myself. :)


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